The Pal World Rule

[Mana-Cultivation Value +2.6]

[Mana-Cultivation Value +2.6]

......

Listening to the delightful chimes of mana-cultivation value notifications, Lu Ze closed his eyes and savored the moment in private.

He had placed tracking marks on several familiar targets.

This unbroken stream of value came from Li Moran.

"Charging in to die one after another... what exactly is she up to?"

Curious, Lu Ze concealed his identity, slipped into Zhong Yi's Palworld, and tracked down Li Moran's location.

At a mere level 9, Li Moran wielded a basic iron sword and was locked in battle with the juvenile Mammorest guarding the newbie village.

Li Moran naturally understood that when Zhou Yue had appeared at the village entrance to take down this Mammorest, it wasn't for any materials—it was simply to keep her from being so stubborn.

But a woman as prideful as her—how could she ever bow her head so easily?

The Mammorest shook its massive frame, unleashing a barrage of sand-laden tornadoes toward Li Moran.

Her gaze stayed calm and detached. She twisted aside with the smallest of steps, then slashed once across the Mammorest's hide.

[-1]

No surprise there.

With such a vast level gap, only a single point of forced damage registered.

"He placed this great demon, level 37, at this spot—surely there's a reason for it."

Li Moran spoke slowly, facing the colossal beast with over four thousand health points, completely fearless.

"Is it a test?"

A faint smile touched her lips.

Her sword moved even faster.

Watching this absurd battle unfold from his hidden vantage point in the sky, Lu Ze was stunned.

"What if I told you..."

"That thing was put at the front door just to annoy everyone?"

......

......

By the time players reached around level forty, the proportion of truly novel mechanics in the game began to dwindle.

No longer did every new location bring some fresh, exciting gameplay or dungeon.

In short, it was just the same resources wrapped in a fancier skin.

From metal ingots to refined metal ingots to Pal ingots to...

Most games followed this basic template.

In Lu Ze's past life, plenty of players would joke about this design with the classic "wooden stick beats crayfish" gag.

At level 1, you use a broken wooden stick to beat a crayfish.

At level 20, you use a refined magic staff to beat a mutant crayfish.

At level 40, you use a Demon-Subduing Six Harmony Staff to beat a thunderbolt crayfish.

At level 80, you use a +12 Refined·Cataclysm Vajra Lightning Staff to beat a True·Overlord Sunset Crayfish...

On the surface, Palworld followed the same basic cycle of resource recirculation, but it executed that design brilliantly.

Other games forced you to grind—no grinding, no progress.

But in Palworld, not grinding was a perfectly viable option.

You could catch Pals with lower-tier Pal Spheres, survive with slightly worse equipment, and just craft a bit slower with more primitive tools.

Players farming resources was entirely self-motivated—a self-driven desire, plain and simple.

And after gathering new resources, the boost to your entire base's production was immediately tangible.

Finding new ways to squeeze every last drop of work out of your Pals was, after all, one of the core joys of the game.

In terms of both motivation and reward feedback, Palworld had always excelled.

So even though it walked the same old path of resource loops, even though its grindiness exceeded the norm, players happily paid up and kept coming back for more.

Consequently, these high-intensity resource demands gave rise to generation after generation of heartless capitalists.

Players in Lu Ze's previous life even joked: you hate the cruel capitalist only because you're not the cruel capitalist yourself.

In this world, the situation was no different.

No guidance needed, no tutorials required—cultivators spontaneously underwent their transformation into capitalists, even competing to learn every trick for squeezing Pals dry.

At this stage, streaming mogul Zhong Yi played a pivotal role.

The introduction of "campfire therapy" burned away whatever last shreds of conscience those cultivators had left.

And it only grew more extreme...

The forum was a completely different world from that warm, harmonious first day.

[Fellow cultivators, I just returned from a mission outside, and all the Pals at my base have fallen ill. What should I do?]

[Look into campfire therapy.]

[Campfire? That's outdated, friend! Instead of spending all those materials and time building a campfire room, why not just sell the sick Pals? You'll even make some money off them.]

[Whoa? Are we really this demonic on the righteous path now?]

[Who said anything about demonic? We give them straw mats to sleep on and berries to eat, and they throw tantrums over a little work? Those Pals don't know what's good for them—sell 'em!]

[Pal Law #1: The Pal continent is never short on Pals. If you won't work, there are plenty of Pals who will!]

[Pals are born to work for their trainers. A Pal that can't serve its trainer isn't a good Pal. Just send it to reincarnation!]

[Running to the village to sell Pals is such a hassle. Fellow cultivator, I suggest using the cleaver instead. Cut them into meat chunks—you can feed the other Pals with it.]

[Feeding them that well? Are you running a charity, friend?]

[A cleaver... is that still too far even for us?]

[Sigh. I seriously warn everyone to be careful with the cleaver!! Yesterday was my first time unlocking it, and I didn't know what it was for, so I had my Prankcat craft one. Then, like an idiot, I used it out of curiosity—and directly chopped the Prankcat into meat chunks... That was the very first Pal I ever caught on the continent. I still haven't recovered. I just built a gravestone for it at home, hoping it can rest in peace with a smile...]

[It didn't even know the tool it was helping craft was meant to butcher itself.]

[Actually, it knew everything. It just loved you.]

[Why does such a sick craft exist in this game... Old Demon Lu, you have no heart!!]